Ashes and Tears
by platinum35
Summary: Since my Vote For a Story isn't getting many views, I decided to make this story instead. After a fire destroy's Michael Vendor's home along with the death of his parents, he is met by his aunt and uncle, Nicole and Richard. He is brought to Elmore to live his life with his cousins, Gumball, Anais and Darwin. What will happen? Find out in the story of Michael Watterson.
1. Safe in a backyard

The cold winds rock my hammock as I slowly drift into sleep. The entire house I used to live only house ashes drifting towards the forest. I'm living in my backyard, it was about five week's since the fire, and I can already smell my burnt-to-a-crisp parents. I've gotten use to the smell; it's just the emotional toll that degrades me. The only thing to do here is to eat grass and clip weeds from my parent's tomato cages. I know it sound's boring to you, but believe me if you think of anything better to do, I'm all ears.

Its day five of week six, half of the grass is gone after I became a human lawnmower. I was sitting in my hammock reading Twilight; I hate the series but it was the only book that the fire didn't consume, it's an okay book but it need's adjustments; I was in the middle of reading Speak before it was torched like a piece of paper. I read Twilight about 15 times before I realized it was getting boring. I read about every book in the house except for Speak; shame to, I was on the last page before it caught fire. Aside from that I've read every book in The Hunger Game's series, I've even read Dictionaries, Encyclopedia's and How-To guides. You can write me down as Wolf, eleven, Bookworm in the yearbook. No one at school read as much as I did, I read every book at home, at school and even the library. But when I was reading I heard footsteps, I heard the door open to the back porch; it was mostly a patio now.

"Hello? Michael?" said the familiar voices; it was my uncle and aunt, Nicole and Richard Watterson. And yes, my name is Michael.

"Michael! I thought you were dead! I know my brother is dead and we came to see if you were okay" said Richard,

"Why? You know that fire consumed the whole house" I say with confidence.

"Oh please, you know I taught you how to survive in the wild" said Nicole,

"Now that my house is burnt to extra crispy, it's now considered wild?" I respond.

"Not really, I just taught you how to survive, it doesn't really matter where you are to survive" said Nicole,

"So if I was in a desert with no food or water for mile's, would I be alive?" I say.

"Okay were here for something other than arguing on how survival works, okay?" said Nicole,

"What would that be?" I say after digging my face into my book.

"Bringing you to Elmore! Staying with us!" Richard says excitedly, I drop my book in awe.

"Michael?" said Nicole,

"I'm flattered by you're offer, but I'm staying here, it's the home I grew up in"

"Okay Michael, but you're running out of grass" said Nicole. The couple left without saying another word; it was after they turned they're backs to leave that I realized my selfishness, I was running towards the front door to get to the car the Watterson's drove, it was a used station wagon, probably from the 1980's or near that time. They were already on their way home, I couldn't stay there.

"Goodbye mom, goodbye dad" I say as I turn away from the house, I was on all fours trying to catch that car, I grabbed onto the bumper and climbed onto the roof, at that time I was holding on for dear life.

"Nicole! Richard! Stop the car!" I scream, they must've heard me because the car came to a halt, but as I saw it was only a stop sign, but Nicole came out.

"Come in… Michael Watterson" she said, I was part of the family now. And I was happy about it.

_I'm sorry for this chapter to be so short, but they will get longer._


	2. Reunited

It was about a five minute drive to Elmore, and a 20 minute drive to the Watterson's house I could see how much snow was on the ground, so school must've been off. I could see what looked like an antlered peanut with arm's and legs playing with a peanut similar to her in the snow,

"Nicole? Who is that peanut?" I ask,

"Who? Oh! That's Penny Fitzgerald, she's my son's current love interest" she answered,

"What's his name?" I ask again,

"I have two sons, one is a blue cat named Gumball, and Darwin, a fish with legs and the ability to talk and breathe air" she replied, I didn't even want to know how she produced a walking, talking, air breathing fish.

"So Gumball is the one who has a crush on Penny?" I say

"Yes, that is true" said Nicole, I didn't have enough time to bring my Twilight book with me, but it was either me or the book, and I didn't want it to be me. The reason I didn't freeze to death out in my backyard is because my fur coating, I managed to smuggle my lab supplies to the backpack I have on my shoulder all the time, forgot to tell you that. The pack supplied beakers, very dangerous chemicals, and safety goggles.

"Now listen, Michael. I want you to be careful with those chemicals, and DON'T make the whole basement explode, I only have one of those" said Nicole

"Yes, Aunt Nicole" I say,

"You can call me mom" said Nicole,

"Thanks, but I'll probably just call you Aunt and Uncle, my parents are dead and I can't put up the burden of having to call you two mom and dad" I say.

"Were here!" said Nicole, the house looked comfortable; I could imagine how nice and warm it is in there. I felt home.

The house had a family room in the front hall, and a staircase near the front door. Either way you put it. It was a beautiful home.

"Well, I'll be cleaning, make yourself at home" said Nicole as she rushed towards the kitchen.

"And I'll be watching TV" said Richard, while sitting on the couch and turning to the sport's channel. I haven't seen my cousins Gumball or Darwin or Anais in my life. Aside from looking at them in a picture, which was 12 year's old anyways, I walked slowly to the three rooms upstairs. But two figures exit a room, it was a blue cat and a fish, my long lost cousins, Gumball and Darwin.

"Well hello good sir! My name is Darwin, this is Gumball" the fish said,

"Darwin? Gumball? It's me. Michael" I say, they give me a confused face, until Darwin finally answers

"Who?" said Gumball, Darwin suddenly realizes who I am.

"Michael! My long lost bro!" said Darwin, and then Gumball realizes that I'm his cousin.

"Michael! Oh please please, please don't leave this house!" said Gumball, obviously he hasn't realized that I'm staying.

"Gumball, I'm not leaving" I say confidently, "I don't have a choice"

"What happened? Did somebody die?" said a pink rabbit that looked like Richard, but smaller.

"Anais! This is Michael! He's our cousin" said Darwin,

"I've heard, it was loud out there it was like the talent show two years ago" she said.

"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm busy unpacking." I say, and with that, I left the hallway.

I had a bunch of stuff in my backpack, a portable bed to sleep in the basement, but I think I was sleeping in one of Gumball's bunk-beds. When I finished unpacking, it was dinner time, I sat at the table. The plates were filled with food that my mom and dad use to make. It was chicken and mashed potatoes.

"Mom I don't feel comfortable eating potatoes, you do realize Idaho is a potato" said Gumball, everyone laughed at the joke.

"Gumball don't be picky about what you eat, it's good enough that you get any at all" said Nicole,

"Gumball? Who's Idaho?" I ask.

"Oh he's a friend of mine, he's a potato" said Gumball,

"I would've guessed" I say. After dinner we go to bed, Nicole told me if I would like to go to the school my cousins or brothers go to, I said yes. Nicole went to her study and probably was their for a good two hours until she went to bed. As I tried to sleep, I thought about how fun it would be to go to that school. But it turned into a dream instead. I drifted into a sea of dreams.


	3. A Race, a Peanut And two Bully

My eye's were glued shut because of the nervousness inside me. As much as I wanted to go to school, the equality of not going made my stomach ache. I got up and climbed down to the bedroom floor. My noise made Darwin wake from his sleep inside a fishbowl, which seemed appropriate for a fish. he asked me what I was doing.

"I'm going to get a drink of water" I respond, Darwin lets out a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?" I ask.

"Oh nothing, it's just that the only water up here is in my fishbowl" he said

"Oh man that's sick! you sleep in that stuff?!" I say quietly,

"Yeah, it doesn't bother me, but Ms Mom has been trying to clean my bowl for month's" Darwin say's

"Okay, go to sleep" I say, he almost immediately goes to sleep. i go check the time. It was 3:48 in the morning, who would be awake in three in the morning. I then heard footstep's, it was Nicole

"Good morning Michael, I was just on my way to do some errand's" she said, I would've guessed by the purse on her shoulder.

"Mind if I come along? I can't really sleep" I ask.

"Well, I don't think I would mind" she say's, we were in the car going to the Grocery Store. We first went to the freezing depths of the frozen food section. Nicole asked me to check off everything we get in the store. she then hands me a notepad with grocery items. Their was a high discount chicken, I grabbed for it until a lizard woman probably in her 70's or somewhere like that whack's me in the head with the top of her cane. That made me lose my cool, my claw's came out of their normal hiding place to shed some blood. I slashed the woman on her arm, but not majorly, it was only a scratch. she gave me the chicken and ran off in the other direction.

"Michael, are you okay?" Nicole ask's in concern

"Yeah I'm fine, just a bump" I answer. Chicken. Check. next was salmon, which for my luck was in the same isle that we were in. I grabbed it, but Nicole said no.

"Sorry, but were trying to keep our budget cheap, so if their is any, could you grab a half priced salmon instead?" she said, that was somewhat irritating, but I saw one right on the end of the isle, but to my difficulty; five other shopper's were lining up to race me to the discount.

"Punch it, Nicole!" I say. And were off! Two shopper's collide and their out. One tries to take us out of the race. But we dodge the attempt. We get the salmon but people are still chasing us. We get to the self service isle and checkout, with about everything we needed on the list; leaving a giant clump of shopper's like it was Black Friday. Score one for the Watterson's.

It was close to 5:00, so Nicole told me to get some sleep. And after the things I encountered, I really wanted some sleep.

it was 5:30, the alarm went off. every bone in my body didn't want to move after what happened 30 minutes ago. Gumball and Darwin woke me up after I went to sleep again. We went downstairs and ate breakfast; it was really good. next we got dressed, and we were out the door.

"Michael, this is going to be awesome! You're in Ms Simian's class, so are we!" Darwin said excitedly. Gumball and Darwin were wearing heavy coat's and earmuff's, I was wearing the exact same thing. We were on the rout to the bus stop, until the antlered peanut I saw the other day accidentally smashed into me, making me tumble to the icy floor.

"Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry!" the peanut said,

"No, don't sweat it, I'm fine" I answer.

"Hi Penny, this is Michael, he's our cousin but because of matter's he probably doesn't want to discuss, he's our brother" said Gumball, but I then tell the reason I'm their brother.

"My parent's died in a fire" I say, I probably should have kept my mouth shut, because Penny looked sad.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that" said Penny, I heard someone behind me, an annoying voice.

"Hey, flea-face, give me you're lunch money" he said, no one has said that before and walked away at least without a black eye.

"Here's my lunch money" I say to the multicolored kid, and punch him in the eye, leaving a mixture of purple and red and black.

"Alright man! 'nuff said! I give up!" he said. He was running in the other direction.

"Yeah you better run Tobias!" said Darwin. The bus arrived not very long after my encounter with Tobias. it was painted with grafiti, showing very poor care to it. We boarded the bus, with the fate now of the day in my hands. The bus made it's usual route's to street's, picking up one student after another.

"Hey! are you new to this school?" said a cloud who seemed very rude.

"Yes, what did you think?" I say,

"Well good luck, I say you'll last five weeks" she said.

"Masami, shut up. He know's a lot more than you. You just cheat by looking at the brainiacs paper" said Penny.

"Thanks, Penny. I owe you one" I say.

"No it's fine" she replies

"OH! MY! GOD! Penny and the new kid!" Masami says, Penny begin's to blush, her cheek's redder than a tomato.

"Masami, no one like's you for you're look's, they only like you for you're money" said Darwin. That must've made her sad because it started raining, from her. It must be how she cries.


	4. Welcome to Junior High, Werewolf

The bus ride was boring, there was nothing to do but sit and listen to other people's conversations. I saw Tobias talking to a hybrid student and a T-Rex. They must have been talking about me, because Tobias wasn't in the mood to talking about someone else. He seriously wanted to get back at me for punching him. I didn't even punch him that hard, my normal punches usually break bones; he must bruise easily, proving that he is a weakling. Tobias eventually got out of his seat and walked over to my seat with a toothy smile with his eyebrows in an "I'm angry" expression. When he arrived at my seat he grabbed me by my coat collar, Penny was watching the whole thing at her seat.

"You got you're move, now it's my turn" Tobias said in a confident tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't know we were playing chess. By the way…" I say as I punch Tobias in his other eye. He falls to the floor at the mercy of getting punched again.

"Checkmate." I say shortly after the ordeal.

"You're parents would be proud of you being a bloodthirsty psychopath. After all, your parents were just as thirsty for murder" Tobias said with confidence; as if he thought I was not going to ignore that fictional fact. He was in for it now. My claws were out, eyes red as blood, teeth sharper than shattered glass. Tobias' facial expression changed quickly, he was sweating like a waterfall. I was about to do some real damage until someone stopped me. It was Darwin.

"Michael! Stop!" said Darwin.

"Why should I? He deserves it!" I say, but I calm down and stay that way.

"See what I mean? He's a bloodthirsty 12 year old werewolf!" said Tobias.

"Tobias, you had it coming. You disgraced my family. And that's what you get for it; humiliation and two black eyes. Good luck getting home without smacking into garbage cans" I say. The bus pull's into the school area parking, just outside the school doors. The doors were nearly jammed packed because everyone wanted to escape the cold. Even with mittens and a wool coat on it still felt like you had a T-shirt and shorts on. The hallway was like a prison riot; you couldn't walk five steps without smashing into someone. I accidentally smack into a girl with multicolored hair. She got pretty aggressive afterwards.

"Hey! Watch was you're go-" the girl say's, but she then gets calmer.

"Oh, hey. I'm Rachel; what's your name?" said Rachel,

"Michael Watterson" I say.

"Oh, you're another brother of the Watterson's?" she says.

"Well, after my parent's death, I became a Watterson." I say. Her facial expression fade's from happy to depress.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. Maybe we should talk at lunch, I sit at the table close to the entrance and exit door, it's pretty close to where the girls sit." said Rachel, then she walks away. Darwin and Gumball helped me get up.

"What was that about?" Darwin said with a very confused face.

"That was Rachel, she asked me to sit with her at lunch." I say.

"Rachel?! Dude! Rachel is Tobias' sister!" said Gumball,

"So? It's not like I care. He wouldn't last two seconds in an arena with me." I say.

"Right. Well, we better get to class." said Darwin.

Once we finally get to the classroom, we spent five minute's waiting for the teacher, during that time limit kids were flying paper planes, conversation's fly around the room; it was utter chaos.

"Is this how it is all the time?" I question.

"What? No! Of course not; it's usually on Fridays." said Gumball.

"That still mean's it's a mad house here." I say. The teacher walked into the classroom looking like a snowman. Ms. Simian I presume was a chimpanzee that looked older than this school.

"Alright, settle down, take out you're math homework." she said, she was a lot nicer than what I heard on the bus.

"And I see we have a new student." said Ms. Simian. She asked me to come up to the front of the class.

"Now, tell the class you're name." said Ms. Simian,

"My name is Michael." I say.

"Alright now sit down." said Ms. Simian; I could see her dark side taking effect. The rest of the time in math the eyes were mostly on paper, never on another student. After the lunch bell rang, at science of course.

"Finally, freedom." I think. I walk to the cafeteria, chicken soup for lunch, a soda machine laid in the middle of the cafe. I remember that I have 10 dollars in my pocket, it was the only saving's I could salvage. It was a 1 dollar machine. I put a dollar into the machine and out pop's a lime soda.

"Michael! Over here!" said a recognizable voice, it was Rachel. I walk over to the table, Rachel was happy to see me.

"Hey Michael, how are you doing?" said Rachel.

"Okay I guess if you don't count being treated like a dish rag for two whole class periods." I say.

"Yeah Ms. Simian doesn't like new student's. It's more of a hand full." said Rachel. "She'll accept you, it's a really good thing you didn't say you're last name. She hates the Watterson's"

"From my point of view, she hate's half the class, including me." I say. Tobias and his friend's come over to the table. Rachel went from joyful to bloodthirsty almost as fast as me.

"What do you want, dweeb?" Rachel says in a threatening tone.

"Oh please, I wish to speak to your boyfriend." said Tobias.

"You're so immature, Tobias." said Rachel. He punches me in my arm. This didn't hurt at all.

"Oh, you're in for it now Tobias." I say, I sit up, but he already has made a dash for it.

"Wimp." I say, pretty much the day only had a few hours of school left. So I was pretty lucky.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" questioned Rachel.

"About this town, I've only been here one day and one night and I'm already in a school." I say.

"The town is really a no brainier, it's just a town on countryside, and the scenery is beautiful." she said. The time to go back to class came around two minutes later.

"Well, I'll see you around I guess." said Rachel.

"Yeah, I'll see you around to." I say, and like that, we separate. I was in love with a 13 year old, it was a very slim chance she had a crush on me as well. I guess we'll see soon enough.

_Thank UnknownSalvation for the Proofreading_


	5. The brawl

The rest of the day included sitting in a chair that felt like limestone, and sharpening a pencil that takes so long to sharpen its like trying to sharpen a rock for an hour and a half. It was a beautiful day out and we had to spend it doing a test. My first day meant torture, I always have a torturous first day. It's almost like a 100% guarantee that the worst day of school is the first one. And the worst part was, our PM teacher was a humanoid cloud who was a hippie, so any hatred will not be tolerated. And trust me; the hatred in this entire classroom is bottled up and ready for the cork to pop off, releasing any rude and degrading comments about each other.

"Now class. I want everyone to describe themselves from what happened today" said the teacher.

"I'm not telling anyone myself from event's happening today, dumb hippie Mr. Small" said Masami, I haven't heard from her in almost three hour's.

"Masami, why must you treat everyone like a slave, you know that you treat people like this because you want to feel the power that tyrant's once felt" I say, she gives me one of those look's as if I got her into a bad mood.

"Now settle down! Masami, you're staying after class, everyone take out you're books" said Mr. Small, he then turns towards me and gives me a "thanks for that" face. I must be his favorite student.

* * *

The day ended, and not a moment too soon. people at the end of class gave me a very crazed look; as if I did a crime that would land me in a noose or and electric chair. Oh no, I'm going to be late for my french class.

_bon dieu._

I get to the classroom, along with 12 other people who didn't get late. Maybe I felt good that the instructor didn't yell at them, or I was glad I wasn't late.

"Sit down, Michael" said the teacher, she was a grey fox with a nasty attitude, even being a fraction of a second late you get yelled at, it's crazy. In thought's I feel like sitting in a prison cell was better than being part of this class. Easy as it looks you say? Well, if you don't count an annoying teacher and the completely idiotic kid that sits in front of me(Tobias). It felt like a torture room I was in, and Tobias; Tobias wasn't making anything better.

"What a complete idiot, listening to this teacher, I'm way to cool for school" said Tobias. His words echoed in my head: "To cool for school. To cool for school"

* * *

_Flashback_

_It was; oh say 15 weeks ago, Jamal and I were sitting in a table, it was a horrible day; my skateboard was ripped to shreds, I was still late for all my classes, and the only person to make my day better was Jamal, but he was troubled, he was caught doing graffiti on the back of my old school. I stayed away from Jamal for a month then we started getting conversational. But the last time would prove that Jamal was nothing but a 12 year-old homicidal mainiac. He graded his own test, probably copied off of the smart kid's paper. That was when I finally eliminated my friendship with Jamal, I walked home that day with my fueled hatred for Jamal still going far over the meter. I rush home from the smell of birch wood smoke; when I reach the house, it is in flames. I killed Jamal and his family, burning their bodies. I got too bloodthirsty, my hatred fueled my anger, which resulted in the ended lives of Jamal and his family members._

_End of flashback_

* * *

An hour or so passed, and french was done, I walked home with Penny, Gumball and Darwin. From what I saw, Darwin looked so cold it looked like his tail was going to fall off.

"Here, wear this" I say, taking my coat off and putting it on Darwin.

"Michael, it's 22 degrees outside, you'll get frostbite or hypothermia" said Penny.

"I'm a wolf, the fur on my back is like a frost shield, it protects me and warms me as well" I say, we all discuss what happened today.

"By the way, how did you're parent's die?" said a voice behind me, it was obliviously Tobias. No one at Elmore Jr High has a voice that annoying.

"Hey Penny,how about a date? Gumball's not making a move so I'm making my own" said Tobias.

"Not even in the next turn of the century, punk" said Penny, out of the blue Tobias pushed Penny towards a street lamp, I hear a crack. I can't even look. I immediately turn towards Tobias; he has a sharp, toothy smile.

"What are you going to do now?" said Tobias. Tobias grab's Gumball's coat collar as I watch from the sidelines. Right in front of me, my brother was being beaten; severally. Now right next to me, an even bigger version of Penny. I guess he was Penny's father.

"What's going on here?" he says, and then seen an unconscious Penny, resting her head on a pole. I look at the damage which was sustained in the brawl, it was bad; he shell was cracked. It was a small crack, not very big. It looked repairable.

"Who did this?!" the angered peanut said. His thunderous voice almost made me wet myself.

"It was that multicolored kid on top of Gumball!" I say. "He's smashing him to pieces!"

"Hey! Punk! Get off of him!" said the peanut. he looked furious.

"I'll deal with this, you two aid Penny, she may look fine, but their could be a slim chance she has a concussion" I say. I immediately tackle Tobias, he already gives up. I got towards Penny, she was regaining consciousness.

"Ouch, my head, I think I need to lay down" said Penny.

"Thanks kid, you really know how to take pressure" said the peanut,

"So, we'll see you around Mr. Fitzgerald" said Gumball.

"Alright, see you around" said Mr. Fitzgerald. after the ordeal, me and my brothers walked the long way home, when we reached home, Nicole asked us where we had been, we explained everything to her, dinner was ready in three hours, so we slugged out on the sofa, next to Richard. when 6:30 rolled along, we sat at the dinner table.

"So, I got a call from Mr. Fitzgerald, he said on Saturday he want's to meet with Michael, he just met him and he would be flabbergasted to visit" said Nicole

"Okay, but could someone please tell me why they have antlers coming out of their heads? Aren't they peanuts" I say,

"Well, typically she's a mixture of a peanut and something else" said Gumball, after dinner, bed was next. the day went just odd for a regular school day, I can't wait for Friday to come, it must be my lucky day, because tomorrow is Friday.


	6. Dinner with a family of mutated peanuts

The next morning continued to be a torture chamber, my brother Gumball nearly blew up my lab with water and acid. Did anyone teach him that those are never to be mixed? Along the way I encounter being tripped by Tobias at recess, the impact broke my nose. Man, I absolutely hate him! But now I'm at the Fitzgerald's house, with Nicole.

"Alright, Michael. behave yourself" said Nicole. I was wearing my black coat with a white shirt underneath, gold cuff links and a red neck tie and I smelled like dish soap. Nicole knocked on the door, and another antlered peanut answered the door. She looked like Penny, but she was taller, and was wearing cowboy boots. Something told me she was from the heartlands.

"Hello Mrs. Watterson! I see you have you're friend with ya" she said, I'm amazed that she knew Nicole. She invited us in, where the whole family was waiting. Penny had a bandage on the point of impact caused by Tobias.

"Hey Michael. You look great" said Penny.

"Really? I feel like one of those mannequin dolls at the mall" I say. The entire family had then burst out laughing.  
"Nicole! This kid is hilarious!" said Mr. Fitzgerald, "Anyway. Come in!"

"Thank you, Mr. Fitzgerald, we very much appreciate it" said Nicole. we sat down at the table, before the dinner was ready, we talked and discussed.

"From what I saw, Nicole. You're son know's a lot about strategy, and that's a really good thing" said Mr. Fitzgerald, "By the way, what on earth happened to his nose?"

"Tobias" I say.

"That kid? He punched you?" said Mr. Fitzgerald.

"Not exactly. He tripped me when I was walking" I answered.

"Oh, okay. Speaking of Tobias, Penny said that he was stalking her, can't imagine anyone doing that" said Mr. Fitzgerald.

"It's true dad! He has been stalking me since Monday! He calls my number but doesn't leave a message, I have heard him in the bushes in front of our house!" said Penny. Just then, we heard something coming outside. My expression faded from happy to bloodthirsty very quickly.

"Mr. Fitzgerald, lets take a look at the bushes" I say.

"With extreme prejudice" said Mr. Fitzgerald. Me and Mr. Fitzgerald go outside and check on the bushes, when we hear him, we grab him so fast he's still trying to get away.

"You ain't going anywhere, punk" said Mr. Fitzgerald. It was Tobias alright.

"Remember me? I was the kid that broke his nose because of you" I say. I was about to raise my fist, but someone called out.

"Tobias!" said the voice, it was in direction of a group of people that looked a lot like Tobias, but looked as if they were at different ages. Rachel was part of that group.

"Oh, hey mom" said Tobias.

"What are you doing here?! It's 9:00 at night!" Tobias' mom

"This punk is you're son? He was stalking my daughter!" said Mr. Fitzgerald.

"You were what?! Tobias! Were going home, and as soon as we get home you're going to you're room! You're grounded!" said Tobias' mother. And they left without another word.

* * *

Dinner ended, Mr. Fitzgerald thanked me for finding Tobias.

"I can't say just a thank you, you have gained my family's trust" said Mr. Fitzgerald, the door closed.

"I think its time we all got some rest, it's late" said Nicole. we went home, Darwin and Gumball were wanting to know what happened.

"Oh It's best if we wait another time" I say. And we went to bed. I was siting above my blanket, with the many question's in my head, it seemed impossible for me to answer one specific question. Is Elmore changing? And if it is; why?

* * *

Daylight sprouted like a tulip in spring, but it wasn't a peaceful wake up.

"Michael! Wake up! it's Christmas! said Gumball.

"Alright! Alright! I'm up!" I say. I am so tired I nearly fall down the stairs. The house was lit up with lights, many presents lie on the ground waiting for their wrapping to be torn off.

"Alright, we will go by name, Darwin is first" said Nicole. As Darwin opened his present, his face filled with delight, it was something he has wanted all his life as a humanoid fish. A pair of ice skates.

"Yes! I have a pair of ice skates!" said Darwin,

"Gumball's next" said Nicole. Gumball opened his present, it was a video game. he was happy for this.

"Michael, now you" said Nicole. I opened it, I found a lot of electrodes and the weirdest thing yet, every element except the dangerous ones like Uranium and Plutonium. It was something I always wanted. The parents went next and were satisfied. Nicole got a new microwave, and Richard got slippers. It was a good morning, filled with the cheers of children getting something they were dying to receive. Their was a knock on the door, I answered it, it was Penny.

"Hey Penny. What brings you here?" I ask.

"My dad said we could go ice skating if you're parents agreed" said Penny

"Well, it is Christmas, I don't see much of a delay. I'm okay with it" said Nicole, she checked with Penny's parents, and the whole thing was planned. We drove to the ice rink, Penny and Gumball were ice skating together, I skated by myself, Gumball was pretty good at skating. Thats what gave me an idea.

"cet amour a besoin d'un peu de quelque chose pour le" I thought, I went to the place where they had the stage lights, turned on the stage light and turned off the lights. Gumball and Penny were ice skating, they were in love, but they just didn't have the nerves to say it. After ice skating, we went home, everyone went home. and the day went on from their.


	7. Unexpected Confrontations

When Sunday came along, I sneaked outside during the time that no one was awake. The mountains were my only place to unwind, it was 1/2 a mile from Elmore, it gave me both exercise an peace and quiet. When I reach the mountains, Penny was their, waiting silently.

"Penny? What are you doing here?" I ask Penny.

"I need some advice" said Penny "My friends advice don't help much"

"Well, what do you need to know?" I say.

"I need you to help me with my relationship with Gumball" said Penny.

"Ugh, I knew you would ask this. Okay, first you need to tell Gumball how you feel when you think about" I say.

"But I can't. I'm to much of a wimp. Maybe I should be with Tobias, he's not having trouble keeping his feelings inside him" said Penny.

"Now that midget jock is not a good choice, he's rude, selfish, a bad influence and he gave you that injury two day's ago!" I say. "Anyway, I can tell Gumball that you love him" I say.

"Really?! You would do that for me?" said Penny.

"Of course, I'm you're friend" I say. Without a reaction, Penny pulls me in for a kiss, it was for three seconds to be exact. Our lips pull away. Penny giggles.

"I won't tell Gumball about that" I say. I leave the mountain later, thinking about what happened, Elmore was slowly changing, I could feel it. Rachel described Elmore as a peaceful town, but now as I walk down the street in the town, their is graffiti almost everywhere, every turn you took into an alley would probably see the thickest canvas of graffiti. It was cold, but as I got home, it felt nicer and warmer, as if I felt I was back at my old house. When I get inside, it was near chaos, no one noticed I was gone, Nicole knew where I was so it was okay. The house was like Vietnam, plates were smashing everywhere, Nicole was working so hard it looked like she was about to explode.

"I'll help Nicole!" I say.

"Thanks" said Nicole. I take out my machines I was working on last night, and get to work. the Cleanerbots were used to help Nicole, while the Rewinder Bots were used to fix items ranging from broken plates to tank armor. In 15 seconds it went from Vietnam to Watterson residence.

"Those gadgets are really handy Michael" said Nicole,

"Thanks" I say. I ask Gumball if I could talk to him.

"Well of course" said Gumball. I told him about Penny and about how she loved him.

"She feels that about that?" said Gumball, I nod my head as a reply.

"You have to tell Penny that you love her for this thing to rise from the ashes. I have had this problem before and I have solved it with the simple words I. Love. You." I say, Gumball's face lit up with dignity.

"You're right, I shouldn't coward in fear of rejection" said Gumball. The day went quick, and before I knew it, school starter for its new week. I saw Gumball talking to Penny, but now he's being surrounded by a group of thugs. I walk over to them. They consisted of a T-rex, a hybrid and Tobias.

"Hey punk! What you lookin' at?" said Tobias, I slowly walked towards the group, with an angry smirk on my face.

"What did you say?" I say, they all look as if they are going to beat me beyond recognition. They all charge at me. I think of a strategy.

_"If I can make them hurt themselves, It wont make it look like I hurt them"_ I think. The hybrid goes in for an air attack, and I quickly dodge the attempt, the hybrid smacks her head on the floor, knocking the hybrid out cold. The T-Rex charges like a bull, I roll out of the way and the T-Rex smashes into a wall. Tobias trips over his own shoe lace. I walk away. I could tell I made it onto their hatred list. Class was so slow, every minute was like an hour, and every hour was like a day. Their was a test in science, they were easy questions, for a few people and me at least. Everyone like Gumball and Darwin were clueless, it was pretty funny actually. Almost everybody except the teacher and the know-it-all's like myself, were chewing on their eraser's like they were trying to find a new discovery that was simple, but they made it look like it was challenging.

"Alright! Papers in!" said Ms. Simian, the chimp was so tired her eyelids were getting bags. She yawned and continued to make her rounds to collect everyone's paper.

"Michael, I'm amazed. no one has done this well on a science test since 1989, good job!" said Ms. Simian.

"Nerd!" said a student. it came from the direction of a ghost girl, she had a bow in her hair that resembled a skull and crossbones. She appeared to be Emo or Gothic.

"Carrie! Detention! Now, the rest of us. Chapter 33 in you're textbooks!" said Ms. Simian, everyone groaned as they pulled out their books.

* * *

After class, I asked if I could stay for a second. She didn't mind. Carrie was sitting in a desk, well, more like levitating.

"Hey" I say to Carrie.

"Oh, hey" said Carrie.

"You know, you're not the only one who is depressed" I say. Carrie sighs.

"Yeah right. I am the most depressed person in this whole town" said Carrie. "I'm a ghost"

"Well, my parents are dead, my house was nearly burned to the ground, and worse than that, I'm enemies with half the schools percentage of bullies. Top off that" I say.

"Simple, I'm a ghost" said Carrie.

"We'll talk later" I say.

"Whatever" said Carrie, and I left, without another word uttered from my mouth.


	8. It's time for spring

Walking home was no big deal, but when there's ice on the ground and you're only protection is you're coat, chances are you may slip and fall on your face. Nicole was very surprised, she had thought that someone beat the living stuffing out of me. When I got upstairs, no one said a word, they were to distracted on their homework, I already finished it. I sat down on my bunk above Gumballs, relaxing on the soft fabric. I fell asleep for a small amount of hours and was awoken for dinner. I ate all of my food, denied desert as always; to keep in shape. Slept in the same bunk, same blanket, same clothes, same awakening. But this night was different, unlike anything I ever witnessed. I fell asleep, but something wasn't right, now it was really starting to creep me out.

* * *

_I wake up, but I still know I'm asleep. I was in a dream, no doubt, but as unusual as it must be, it was a **Nightmare**._

_It started with me in the corner of a family photo, the faces of my parents in the picture was burned off, and there was a fiery landscape outside. Then it showed an arena, with a giant python in front of me. I was running fast, but was caught by its enormous tail. I was squeezed for a few seconds then thrown into the mouth of the slithery beast. Then I land on the hard ground, and I am met by a man, he tells me to follow him. After a few minutes, we reach a sign, with a gentle gust of wind, the sign reveals:_

_"Elmore" said the man. I couldn't believe it, the only foreseeable threats here were so minor that no one bothered to worry. Except for Iron Mountain..._

_Iron mountain is a volcano, but it hasn't erupted in over 50 years, apparently it did.  
_

_"What happened at the town?" I ask,_

_"Follow" said the man, the town was in such bad shape, that every step you took was either in a puddle of water, or concrete debris from homes and buildings. It looked as if the town had been ravaged with bombs. In the distance, I could hear a beeping noise, similar to my alarm clock. It WAS my alarm clock. I find my alarm clock in a room that has seemed to have fallen off the entire house. The nightmare ended with the alarm clock exploding._

* * *

I wake up, sweat pouring like a waterfall; it was the first nightmare I've had in years. I had nightmares when I was a kid, but when I turned 12, I started having normal dreams unlike having 5 nightmares a week. I get off my bunk, nearly landing on Gumball. I dash downstairs, finish off my breakfast, and dash out the door not forgetting anything. Dashing after me was Gumball and the rest of my friends. But my dash to the bus stop ended very quickly, after Tobias popped out of nowhere, tripping me and making me fall onto ice. Same for my friends.

"Maybe now would be a good time to exchange that anger for a beating" said Tobias.

"Actually, could you lend me a hand?" I say, he helps me up. But halfway through getting me up, I pull him down as well. He falls and smashes into cold, icy concrete.

"Payback. Has been served" I say, laughing with my friends. I learned that with no training. The bus arrived, transporting us to the school. The whole school was so noisy it outmatched the millions of voices at new years celebration. When we finally arrived at the classroom, it was even LOUDER. The whole room rattled, and Mrs Simian completely shattered our eardrums.

"Sit down!" Shouted Mrs Simian. The only brave souls that dared utter a word would face an extreme meltdown. That chimp is LOUD! The room became silent, no one said anything.

"Welcome home kids, how was school?" said Nicole,

"Not bad, actually. Scored an A on a test. Guess that's the only news to report for now" I say

"That's the fourth test you aced this week! That's impressive" said Nicole.

"If you kept track of every test I took and aced it, the data on the sheets would go through the roof" I say. Really, I lost track on how many aced tests I got. Either way, teachers were always wondering on how I got such good grades. I can't remember really what I said, but I'm sure it had something to do with how I came from a family tree that had the IQ level of Einstein. The whole day went smoothly, though not as smooth as ramming you're foot into a wall; my foot is redder than a tomato, yet the pain relieved itself very quickly, but the red foot didn't leave until a week after.

A month later, the snow was gone, the chilling wind and air was exchanged for warmth. with such weather, I ditched my coat and put on my T-shirt and shorts and dashed straight to school on a skateboard. It was a great day, I had never felt this happy before. The sun was finally out, no longer hiding in the clouds; the day went from great to worse at the end of the day. The clouds locked up the sun and left pouring rain. I had been only walking for a few minutes until someone jumped from the alley, he was not familiar and he had a knife.

"Hey man! Gimmie some cash or die!" Said the man.

"So, if I don't do as you say, you're going to kill me with a swiss army knife?" I say.

"Well, yeah..." Exclaimed the man. "And you're about to!"

"Oh, really?" I answer. What this idiot did not know is that I am a black belt in Martial Arts. I quickly pin him to the ground, and the man even says uncle. He ran so fast he almost tripped from his untied shoelaces. And thats when I realized he had untied shoelaces; could it have been Tobias? No; the man was taller than Tobias, though I should keep an eye out. Its just what I thought; Elmore is changing. Fast.


End file.
